Monday, August 22, 2011

Let's Talk about Cisco UC on Vblock at VMworld!

For a good portion of VMworld this year I have the distinct privilege of hosting customers in the VCE Booth (#1121). We have many great things to discuss this year that I will be highlighting over the next few days leading up to VMworld.

Today, I want to discuss a solution near and dear to my heart. My team has been working closely with Cisco to bring Cisco Unified Communications (UC) as an integrated solution to the Vblock platform.

What has VCE accomplished to date for Cisco UC?
Through VCE and Cisco's collaboration, we have introduced Unified Communications Blade Packs specific to the Vblock platform. If you are familiar with UC, you will understand the concept of Cisco's Tested Reference Configurations. Basically, it is a hardware standard that the Cisco UC team has fully tested and Cisco will support. Cisco and VCE jointly support the B200 M2 TRC#1 and TRC#2 configurations. In addition, EMC's PowerPath/VE and the Cisco 1000v now come standard with every UC blade pack to better support co-residency with other applications inside a Vblock (but on different hardware blades). If you have any questions, find me at VMworld and we'll discuss the "nitty gritty" details.

Why has VCE introduced the Cisco UC Blade Packs?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The following table is taken from the design considerations page on Cisco's UC website. We want to make the infrastructure "go away". By running UC on Vblock, you can focus on the UC design and not worry about all the "stuff underneath". All components of the Vblock are supported by VCE & Cisco will handle the UC application. It couldn't be easier!

What about UC's newly announced specs-based support?
In June of this year Cisco introduced the concept of specs-based support for UC. Long term this will remove the hardware dependence of the Tested Reference Configurations. VCE and Cisco are working closely on a fully supported and documented solution for this architecture as well. Specs-based UC on Vblock will work today but it is up to the customer or partner to design the architecture.

In conclusion, it's an exciting time for Cisco UC on Vblock! Stop by VCE's Booth 1121 and let's talk about it!